The present invention relates to a new and improved closable dispensing carton adapted for use with two different, small candies or the like. More particularly, it relates to a reclosable dispensing carton having two compartments and capable of dispensing a plurality of items through two different dispensing openings by operation of independent, slidable dispensing tabs. The subject carton is an improvement over the inventions disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,456, which issued to Harry I. Roccaforte, on June 13, 1978, entitled RECLOSABLE DISPENSING CARTON, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,329, which issued to Harry I. Roccaforte on May 6, 1980, entitled DOUBLE CELL SLIDE DISPENSER, both of which patents are assigned to the same assignee as the present invention.
Reclosable cartons for dispensing small articles such as candies or pills, have been previously manufactured out of plastic materials. Generally, the contents of such cartons are dispensed by raising a pivoting section of the lid which can be lifted to open the carton and then pressed back into position to reclose the carton. The use of plastic materials in the manufacture of such articles is costly. Further, the non-biodegradable nature of plastic materials generally renders their use environmentally unsound.
The invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,456 provides a paperboard carton blank and a paper dispensing carton in the form of a single tubular enclosure. One end of the carton includes an overlapping arrangement of tabs, the upper and lowermost tabs having registered openings therein. An intermediate closure tab is slidably mounted between said overlapping tabs. The slidable closure tab is operative to uncover the registered openings to enable the dispensing of the contents from the carton, after which the closure tab may be slidably moved to a position so as to cover the registered opening for reclosing the carton. The invention of U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,456 thus provides a paper reclosable dispensing carton for dispensing a single lot of small articles.
A reclosable paper carton adapted for dispensing small articles and having more than one compartment to enable different materials to be marketed in the same carton is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,329. The latter provides a tubular paper carton having a plurality of compartments defined by an internal partition wall. Instead of a single set of registering openings, there is a pair of sets of registering openings, each set being aligned with one of the two compartments within the container. A single dispensing opening in a single slide tab is movable to uncover either desired set of registering openings to permit dispensing from that particular compartment of the carton while simultaneously preventing dispensing from the other compartment. The entire tab structure may be moved to a closed position whereby neither of the sets of registered dispensing openings is available for passage of articles or materials therethrough. The invention of U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,329 thus provides a reclosable paper carton capable of dispensing different small articles alternately from one compartment at a time.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an elongated tubular carton which is compartmented and has a closure structure which provides independently operable sliding tabs, one for each compartment, so that materials within each compartment may be dispensed either separately or both at the same time.
It is another object of the subject invention to provide a new and improved elongated tubular carton which is compartmented and which has an end wall structure of double thickness to enhance the structural rigidity and durability of the carton.
It is a further object of the subject invention to provide a new and improved elongated tubular paperboard carton which is compartmented and has two end walls, each structure of which includes an inner panel and an outer panel, with each inner panel effectively preventing the escape of any contained materials from the carton, except through the dispensing openings provided in the top closure structure of the carton.